Drugs in the World

Between 2009 and 2014 there were seizures of cocaine in 153 countries, 79 percent of the sovereign states of the globe. The data is part of the annual report of the International Board for the Control of Narcotics (Jife), which launches an alert on the emergence of markets for traffickers in areas that had not previously been affected by trafficking in this drug.

West Africa, which in the last decade has become one of the main transit areas for Colombian drug shipments, is also becoming a market for drug traffickers. According to the Jife, coca that passes to Europe and the East is estimated at 1,250 million dollars per year. An astronomical figure for a region that is among the poorest and de-institutionalized in the world.

The problem is even worse because part of the drug is staying on the road, which enhances a problem of consumption in nations with limited resources to address, also, that front of the fight against drug trafficking.

The report coincides with the one delivered this week by the State Department of the United States on the shooting of coca crops and cocaine production in Colombia, based on the official records provided by the State -96,000 hectares, according to the measurement of the System Integrated Monitoring of Illicit Crops (Simci), UN-. That increase in the drug in the market generates effects around the world.

Thus, although compared to heroin and marijuana, cocaine is still a marginal drug in Asia, all figures are increasing. Between 1998 and 2008, less than half a ton of the alkaloid was seized throughout the continent. But in 2015 alone, 200 kilos of cocaine fell in the Chinese metropolis of Hong Kong. The astronomical prices of this drug in the powerful Chinese market explain this situation.

In America, in addition to Colombia, the largest seizures in recent years are taking place in Panama, which registered an increase of 32 percent in this area from 2014 to 2015. Last year, that figure reached 62 tons.

The report says that, on average, nine out of every ten tons of cocaine that arrives in the United States touches the territory of Central American countries. That route uses mostly the Pacific Ocean. For the Caribbean, the most used route departs from Colombia "through countries such as Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela," the report states. In addition to the trail of violence and corruption that drug trafficking leaves in Central America, there is also a profound impact on the ecosystem due to drug traffickers.

In countries like Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua there is a massive destruction of the jungle for the construction of roads and clandestine airstrips for the planes that arrive with drugs, especially from Venezuela. And it is also reported that criminal groups are exerting pressure on indigenous peoples to abandon their lands and are establishing narco-cultivation zones there.

In the region, cocaine interception rates are high, but the Jife believes that the traffic persists due to low rates of prosecution of those responsible. The board notes that the peace agreement with the FARC can be a turning point for Colombia in the control of illicit drugs and, above all, in terms of illegal crops. 

In fact, he affirms that, in addition to the suspension of aerial fumigations, one of the explanations for the increase in drug trafficking in recent years is that the FARC created in thousands of peasant families the expectation that by having coca they could press for greater benefits in the programs of alternative development.

But beyond the increase of the crops, the international organ warns that the challenge of the next years in the whole region will be to face the growing consumption. "The misuse of cocaine base paste is concentrated in South America, and the annual prevalence of cocaine use continues to rise, although cannabis remains the most commonly controlled substance in the region," the report reads. .

It even reports that coca consumption among high school students is higher in the region than in the United States. In general terms, 1.5 percent of the population of South America reports that they used cocaine at least once in the last year.

Alert by countries that allow personal cultivation of marijuana

The International Narcotics Control Board (Jife) warned that the decision of the Government of Colombia to authorize the private cultivation of marijuana for personal use "does not meet the minimum control requirements established by the Convention (of New York) due to the high risk of deviation that represents ".

Therefore, he indicated that Colombia should adopt measures to prohibit this form of cultivation.

La Jife concludes that the 1961 Convention limits the use of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes.

In Colombia, with Decree 2467 of 2015, self-cultivation was declared legal, in "a number not exceeding twenty (20) units, from which narcotic or psychotropic substances can be extracted and which is exclusively destined for personal use".

Regarding Uruguay, he said that "measures to establish a regulated market for the use of cannabis for non-medical purposes have continued to be applied" and that this policy has not yet been "fully implemented". "The board wishes to reiterate its position that such legislation is contrary to the provisions of the treaties," he said.

Uruguay has created three legal channels for individuals to obtain cannabis for recreational purposes: home-grown, social clubs and registered retail pharmacies. It also criticizes the legalization of the sale of marijuana in the states of Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, in the United States, where an increase in the number of consumers is already reported.

No to the death penalty

Francisco Thoumi, member of the Board and who was this week in Colombia, in the presentation of the report, recalled that although the New York Convention of 1961 does not establish a maximum limit for sanctions for drug offenses - that is, the penalty of death could be considered to be within the framework of the Convention-, that body is totally in disagreement with the death penalty.

He insisted that drug policies must respect human rights and called for states to eliminate, in crimes related to the fight against narcotics, the death penalty, which still applies in countries like China, Indonesia or Saudi Arabia.